‘Fantastic Four’ lives up to its bad buzz (Our grade: D)

Most comic-book movies are grounded in some degree of realism, to counterbalance the over-the-top nature of their source material. “Fantastic Four” goes the other way. This second attempt by 20th Century Fox to give the iconic Marvel Comics superhero team its own film franchise starts off on a preposterous note — a grade-schooler invents a machine that can teleport matter into another dimension — then grows dumber.

Even if you’re willing to suspend your disbelief and roll with it, you eventually start feeling insulted. This movie stretches the limits of logic and credulity so far, a Pixar picture seems more plausible, including the one with the bugs that spoke English.